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After years of executing mountains of advertising, PR, internet marketing and
social media plans and campaigns, I’ve made a few conclusions concerning the
critical success factors of digital marketing priorities.

A. B. C. & D. of Digital Marketing

Build your ...

A - Audience
B - Brand
C - Community
D - Digital Marketing Plan

A - Audience

You may have a great website, blog, product, or even a brilliant marketing message.
No matter how the metrics measuring tools stack up, if you don't have enough of the
right audience, you cannot create enough prospects to convert them to sales.

The SBA states that about 50% of businesses fail during the first year, most often
because they lack proper financing or a feasible marketing plan. A critical component
of a successful plan is having a strategy to build your target audience that leads to a
firm understanding of your cost of customer acquisition.

Social media channels and social communities give an unparalleled opportunity to
build your target audience.

B – Brand

In building a brand, you must consider some critical questions.

What makes your brand stand out?
Do people connect their needs with what you offer?
What perspective does the marketplace have of your company?
More than an image ... what is your mission and do you clearly convey that message?
What does your company do uniquely that no one else does as well?
Do you know how to project the real image and message that conveys your true identity?

Finding answers to these and other important questions will begin to help you formulate a
definition of your brand.

Take the time to create a plan and position your brand identity, including
a clear understanding of the needs of your marketplace with a mission-driven focus.

Our company is NetVenturesMarketing.com, and our mission is to help leaders
and businesses locally and around the world to connect and thrive through social media.
So we launched the #SuccessTRAIN global community with a vision to create
a brand with a hashtag. Then we created another hastag to explain our mission,
which is to #ThriveTOGETHER.

We will build our brand identity and mission by doing the real work of supporting leaders
and businesses with a free global alliance #SuccessTRAIN through social media events
and campaigns. Build your Audience, yes, absolutely. But know your brand and continue
to share your purpose as a company so people can identify and relate to your brand.

C - Community

Marketing communications have evolved from company-focused messages to
consumer-driven responses that identifies the real needs and demands of the marketplace.

Essentially, knowing the need and meeting the need of the consumer has always been
the right path, but now it’s becoming more than company-to-consumer engagement or one on one.

The emerging trend is Communities of people becoming a more unified voice because
we can hear them now as a Community voice through social media. For example,
we see it frequently in trending hashtags.

Seek out the social communities that are best suited for your product or service,
and find new ways to reach them. We should not ignore this avenue of reaching
customers, selling customers, and even offering customer service.

Marsha Collier states, in reference to her book, The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide:

"Now, businesses all over the world have the opportunity to grow in the online realm,
but this does not mean that because they do not meet their customers face to face
they should ignore the importance of community."

Marketing today must focus more on the affinity markets through established communities.
The good news is, there are clear channels through social media and digital marketing to reach
these communities.

Consider forming your own Community. Start by searching and sourcing Social Media
niches, established lists, and affinity groups seeking solutions that your product or service can resolve.

D - Digital Marketing Plan

The Beatles sang "There's going to be a revolution," and we can be sure there is one
called digital marketing. It can not be ignored or denied. But one thing is certain about digital marketing:
there is uncertainty of exactly how to be successful or to see a return on investment.

Write a plan. Take it seriously, and take the time to think and execute the building of your
A-Audience, B-Brand, and C-Community. That is your starting point.

A scalable executable digital marketing plan will go beyond defining mission and growth strategy.
It should be a plan of action for all digital devices, utilizing the best social media platforms and applications.
It should give the exact methods and tactics that will help you engage and involve your Audience, eloquently
position your Brand, and include a long-term method of building an influential Community.

Do this and break the barriers that may challenge and confine you in social media.

NetVenturesMarketing.com, in strategic partnership with RockChristopher.com,
would like to help you break those barriers. Contact us for a free consultation
when you are ready to simplify your digital marketing journey.